Multi-beater thresher

ABSTRACT

A legume harvester has a large rotating screen and a central beater and four satellite beaters. An upfeed stripper beater receives material from the upfeed side of the screen and a control beater beneath receives material from the upfeed stripper. The control beater flings the material to the central beater which in turn flings it to the screen for sieving. A downfeed stripper beater strips material from the screen and flings it back to the central beater. In one embodiment a sieving beater receives the material from the central beater and flings it to a lower portion of the screen for sieving. In another embodiment the central beater flings the material against the screen for sieving. Then, a second downfeed stripper beater strips the material from the screen and returns it to the central beater which flings it to a lower portion of the screen for sieving. A smaller diameter screen version employs only three satellite beaters.

United States Patent 1 Looker et al.

[ 1 Jan. 9, 1973 [54] MULTI-BEATER THRESHER [75] Inventors: Olin L.Looker, Milford; Frederick A. Zemke, Hoopeston; David R. Knicely,Rossville; Russell V. Rouse; Larry L. Slates, both of Hoopeston, all ofIll.

[73] Assignee: FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif.

[22] Filed: May 10, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 141,900

[52] US. Cl. ..l30/30 H [51] Int. Cl. ..A0ld [58] Field ofSearch...l30/30 R, 30 H; 209/298, 299,

Primary Examiner-Antonio F. Guida Attorney-F. W. Anderson and C. E.Tripp [57] ABSTRACT A legume harvester has a large rotating screen and acentral beater and four satellite beaters. An upfeed stripper beaterreceives material from the upfeed side of the screen and a controlbeater beneath receives material from the upfeed stripper. The controlbeater flings the material to the central beater which in turn flings itto the screen for sieving. A downfeed stripper beater strips materialfrom the screen and flings it back to the central beater. In oneembodiment a sieving beater receives the material from the centralbeater and flings it to a lower portion of the screen for sieving. Inanother embodiment the central beater flings the material against thescreen for sieving. Then, a second downfeed stripper beater strips thematerial from the screen and returns it to the central beater whichflings it to a lower portion of the screen for sieving. A smallerdiameter screen version employs only three satellite beaters.

19 Claims, 23 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAN 9 I973 SHEET DlfiF 13INVENTORS- -4 OLIN L. LDOKER FREDERICK A. ZEMKE DAVID R. KNICELY RUSSELLV. ROUSE LARRY L. SLATES ATTORNEYS PATENIEDJAN 91975 3,709,231

sum near 13 PERCENT MECHANICAL DAMAGE PAIENTEDJAII 9|975 3.709.231

SHEET BMW 13 EFFECT OF BEATER SPEED ON DAMAGE DRUM BEATER 80 I00 I I40I60 I80 200 EQUIVALENT LARGE DRUM BEATER SPEED, RPM

2 EFFECT OF BEATER SPEED 0N SHELLING IL J 60- .1

m '5 g 20 l4 80 I00 I 20 I 40 I I 200 EQUIVALENT LARGE DRUM BEATERSPEED, RPM

PATENIEDJAN 9197a 3,709,231

sum uunr 13 CENTRAL BEATER DOWNFEED STR I PPER BEATER 6O 62.

SIEVING/ BEATER 1o PATENTEDJAH ems v 3.709.231-

SHEET osur 13 IMPACT*4 33ORPM slums PATENTED AN 9191s I 3709.231

SHEET UBUF 13 DOWNFEED STRIPPER SIEVING VELOCITIES WITH SATELLITE BEATERVELOCITIES 2 CENTRAL BEATER VEL.

VI V2 V3 V5 CENTRAL BEATER 8.45 l7.27 |6.75 23. 95 FT/SEC. STRIPPERBEATER I5.75 8.64 I9.7O I2.75 CENTRAL BEATER I2.8O l7.27 20.0 22.70SIEVING BEATER 24.20 8.64 19.75 8.70 II VI APPROACH VELOCITY V2= PADDLESPEED AT POINT OF IMPACT V3= VEL. PADDLE RELATIVE TO MASS V4= 0.3 V3

V5= RESULTANT VELOCITY OF MASS PAIENTEDJAM 9197s 3.709.231

sum mar 13 T 'IB '7A IMPACT l CENTRAL BEATER CENTRAL BEATER VECTORS VIAPPROACH VEL. 8.45 FT/SEC.

Vv= VERTICAL APPROACH VEL.= 7.49 FT/ SEC.

Vh= HORIZONTAL 3.93

Vl0= APPROACH VEL. REVERSED 8.45 FT/ SEC.

V2= PADDLE. VEL.= I675 FT/SEC. V3= VEL. PADDLE RELATIVE TO MASS I675 FT/SEC. V4= 0.3V3 5.02 FT/SEC.

V5= RESULTANT VEL.OF MASS=2| 25 FT/ SEC.

PATENTEDJAN 9 197a SHEET DBUF 13 C:2 EN

PAIENTEDJAM 9197a 3.709.231

SHEET USUF 13 DEPARTURE DOWNFEED STR l PPER SIEVING DOWNFEED STRIPPERPATENTEDJAN 9|975 3.709.231

SHEET lUflF 13 UPFEED I STRI PPER DOWNFEED STRIPPER SIEVING BEATERUPFEED STRI PPER 8O UPFEED STR IPPER E I [3 l :3

DOWNFEED CONTROL BEATER Z-B SIEVING STRIPPER PAIENIEDJAN sum 11 0F 13UPFEED STRIPPER DOWNFEED STRI PPER FIRST DOWNFEED STR l PPER CONTROL BEATER UPFEED' BEATER SIEVING SECOND DOWNFEED STRI PPER PATENTEDJAH 9191s3.709.231

SHEET lZUF 13 SIEVING UPFEED STRIPPER S3 A Q T I B 1 El f U DOWNFEED QCONTROL glgRIPPER SIEVING PATENTEDJAR 9197s SHEET 13 [1F 13 TYPICALOPERATING RPM SCREEN s BEATER s0- BEATERS 60 8 8O BEATER 1o BEATER 90 5'DIA. 20" DIA. l2" DIA. l2" DIA. l2" DIA.

PEAS 29-34 140-210 258-388 220-330 240-380 BEANS MULTI-BEATER THRESI-IERFIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to harvesters and will beillustrated and described as embodied in a field harvester for cropssuch as peas, beans or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The patent to Pillmore et al. US. Pat. No.728,759, May 19, 1903 discloses a pea hulling machine having a screenwith internal ribs containing three identical, symmetrically disposedbeaters. The beaters and the surrounding screen all rotate in the samedirection.

The patent to Pillmore et al. US. Pat. No. 752,256, Feb. 16, 1904 showsa pea hulling machine like that of the earlier Pillmore et al. patentexcept that the beaters are conical and intermesh at their largerdiameters.

The patent to Mather et al. US. Pat. No. 2,934,072, Apr. 26, 1960discloses a pea and bean debodying machine having a central drum, a verylarge surrounding screen with a helical' rib and 13 small beatersdisposed between these elements. Adjacent beaters rotate in oppositedirections for propelling the peas back and forth between the innerand'outer drums.

It is known that in 1970 a selfpropelled pea combine manufactured byHerbort of Germany was operated in that country. To the best ofapplicants knowledge, this combine had a rotating reel or screen withinternal ribs having three beaters of substantially the same sizedisposed in an upper portion of the reel. The beaters were disposedsomewhat symmetrically and the two lower beaters rotated in the samedirection as the screen, whereas the upper beater'rotated oppositelythereto.

The patents to Burenga US. Pat. No. 3,35l,200, Nov. 7, 1967 andHammachek et al. vs. Pat. No. 3,326,038, Nov. 22, 1966 are cited asexamples of legume harvesters most representative of current commercialpractice in the United States. Each of these harvesters has a singlecentral beater within a relatively large rotating screen or reel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION crop. This advantage can be employed either to(a) increase machine threshing capacity for the same acceptable yieldand damage to the peas or beans, or (b) increase the yield of priordevices with a much lower resultant damage to the crop, or (c) operatethe machine at conditions intermediate to the above.

2. Provide a high threshing rate in the field; with the companionconsiderations of 3. Permitting use of a moderate size machine, e.g.,one having a 4 or 5 foot diameter threshing screen or reel, while at thesame time avoiding the need for an overly long screen.

4. Avoid complexities ofconstruction while maintaining optimum yield ofminimum damage. The optimum yield, minimum damage requirements arementioned above.

More specific features of the present invention are as follows:

A. The general objectives mentioned above are accomplished in part byproviding an adequate and clear infeed space for receiving crop fed intothe lower section of the reel.

B. More impacts to the crop are provided without lengthening of thescreen reel. This is accomplished by (a) removing ribs from inside thescreen and replacing them with external reinforcements, (b) addingsatellite beaters, the details of which will be described presently andeach of which performs a different function. v

The removal of the ribs 'from inside the screen in conjunction withsatellite beaters of the present invention makes all of the screenaccessible to impact by crops travelling from certain of the heaterswithout the shielding effect that would otherwise be provided by theribs.

C. Another specific object and characteristic of the present inventionis that of reducing the severity of the impacts. It has been found thatby increasing the number of impacts, the threshing rate can be increasedwhereas by reducing their severity, the damage rate can be decreased.Under the present invention, in addition to using the satellite beatersas described above in conjunction with the main or central beater, thesedesirable results are further accomplished by collating the linearspeeds of the central and satellite beaters taking into considerationthe entering and leaving velocities of the crop relative to thosebeaters.

D. Another specific feature is to provide optimum utilization of theavailable space in the screen. Various aspects of this objective are theremoval of crop as soon as possible from its motion along the upfeedside of the screen so that it soon enters the active (impact) portion ofthe threshing cycle. As will be seen, applicants found that thispresented difficulties in a thresher of the type of the presentinvention. These difficulties were resolved by use of a properlypositioned upfeed stripper beater disposed between the screen and thecentral beater.

Another aspect of attaining optimum utilization of the available screenarea is the provision of properly positioned downfeed stripper beatersat the screen in a manner that gives more space for sieving and shortensthe over-all threshing cycle time.

Still another feature of the present invention is that v ofaccomplishing the upfeed stripping referred to above without causing thevines and crop to ball-up below the upfeed stripper beater. In thepresent invention ball-up is prevented by a properly placed and properlyrotating control beater just below the upfeed stripper beater. Thecontrol beater actually receives the crop from the stripper beater andthrows it into the central beater.

This action is an important feature of the present invention.

E. Another specific object is to provide a sieving of the crop in anupper portion of the screen as well as in other portions. In the presentinvention this is accomplished by having the upfeed stripper beaterrelatively high in the screen so that the control beater (which receivesthe crop from the upfeed stripper beater) can be positioned to relay thecrop onto the central beater at a relatively low position on the latter.With these conditions the central beater will provide a sievingtrajectory toward the screen that is steeply inclined,

that is, not too far off from the vertical. Hence the crop will strikethe screen at a good aspect angle and there will be no interference byother beaters on the downfeed side of the screen to reduce the sievingaction. Another advantage of the steeply inclined sieving trajectoryfrom the central beater is that it makes the angle of entrance into thescreen close to radial, hence provides an optimum sieving impact. Underthe present invention this advantage is further obtained by not having acentral beater with too large a diameter.

F. Another feature of the present invention is that of providing adownfeed stripping beater to return the crop from the screen aftersieving from the central 7 beater.

G. Another object is to provide at least one additional sieving at alower part of the screen.

H. A characteristic of the preferred embodiment of the present inventionis that the over-all harvesting operation is speeded up by minimizingthe travel of vines on the screen after each sieving on the screen. Thisis done by placing the downfeed stripper beater a short distancefrornthe sieving point and by placing a sieving beater at the downfeed sideof the screen and below the downfeed stripping beater, and rotating thelatter so that it throws vines across the lower part of the screeninstead of letting the vines lay on the screen for a substantialdistance around the lower part of the screen. i

It is a feature of one form of the invention that three sievings areprovided, one from the central beater using an upfeed stripper andcontrol beater as described above and two from the central beater usingdownfeed stripper beaters on the downfeed side of the screen.

The manner in which these objects and advantages are obtained in severalembodiments of the invention will be apparent in the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of a fieldharvester for peas or beans providing the threshing principles of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a section of the harvester taken on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the effect of beater speed on damage to thecrop.

7 FIG. 4is a graph showing the effect of beater speed on the shellingoperation.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged diagrammatic section through a harvester showing apreliminary stage of development of preferred embodiments thereof.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the harvester of FIG. show.-

ing the trajectory of the crop during threshing.

FIG. 7 is a vector diagram of the harvester of FIGS. 5 and 6 showing howvarious basic velocities of trajectories are developed in the thresher.

FIG. 7A is an enlarged vector diagram showing the conditions at thecentral beater.

FIG. 7B is an enlarged vector diagram showing conditions at the stripperbeater rotating at an undesirably high rpm.

FIG. 7C 'is a diagram like that of FIG. 78 showing the vector diagram ofthe stripper beater when the stripper beater is rotating at the desiredrpm.

FIGS. 8-19 are small diagrams of various thresher constructionspresented to show both inferior and good features and constructions ofvarious developments in the beater arrangements. These data arepresented in DETAILED DESCRIPTION General Description of a HarvesterEmbodying the Invention FIGS. 1 and 2 show in simplified form andsomewhat diagrammatic form a field legume harvester embodying thethreshing system of the present invention. The details of the pickup,material handling conveyors or the like of the harvester are notcritical to the present invention and reference is made to patents suchas that of Slates et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,408,802, Nov. 5, 1968 fordisclosureof a type of harvester andpickup adaptable for use with thepresent invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a field harvester 10 for legume crops suchas peas or beans is fitted with the threshing unit of the presentinvention. Harvesters'of this type are in common use and the mechanicaldetails thereof are not critical to the present invention and hence onlythe salient features of the harvester will be mentioned.

The harvester 10 has the usual frame indicated generally at 12, drivenfront wheels 14 and trailing rear wheels 16. The rear wheels 16 can bemoved up and down in a conventional manner to adjust the fore and aftinclination of the harvester so that its inclination with respect to thehorizontal can be maintained at the angle selected to insure flow ofproduct through the threshing unit. Thus, the rear wheels 16 are mountedontrailing arms 18 pivoted to the frame at 20 and raised and lowered byvertical hydraulic cylinder assemblies 22. A cab and engine compartment24 are provided and means (not shown) are also provided for driving thefront wheels 14 and the various hydraulic pumps for the hydraulic motorsthat operate the hydraulic conveyors, beaters and other articles ofequipment. Y

A pickup indicated generally at 26 is provided for removing the mass ofvine and crops from the ground and introducing it into a elevatorconveyor 28 that feeds the crop into the threshing unit 30 of thepresent invention. The details of the pickup are not critical to thepresent invention except for the fact that the crop is fed into a lowerportion of the thresher 30, as best seen in FIG. 2. By way of example,the pickup shown in the aforesaid Slates et al. US. Pat. No. 3,408,802is illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1, although other pickups andinfeeds to the lower portion of the thresher 30 can be employed underthe principles of the present invention.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the threshing unit 30 includes.

a large diameter rotating reel or screen indicated generally at S whichscreen has the usual coarse cloth or wire mesh netting having aperturesin the order of. three-fourths of an inch in accordance withconventional practice. One of the features of the present invention isthat the screen does not have internal ribs but rather is reinforced bylongitudinal ribs 31 disposed externally on the screen. The screen canbe made in longitudinal sections fastened together, as in conventionalpractice.

In a harvester of the present invention, the screen S is surrounded by ashroud 32 (FIG. 2) having sides 33 and end plates 34, 36 (FIG. 1). Also,as is the usual practice, the screen is formed with circular tracks 37(FIG. 2) that ride on support rollers 38 mounted on the frame 12 and aredisposed to both support and locate the screen in the harvester. Inorder to rotate the screen, a belt 39 passes around a pulley on thescreen and is driven by a hydraulic motor assembly 40. This, too, isconventional. Under the present invention various beaters are rotatablewithin the screen. The nature and disposition of these beaters, which isthe subject matter of the invention, will be described in detailpresently. At the moment it will be sufficient to indicate that, as seenin FIG. 2, the beater assembly includes a main or central beater 50 andsatellite beaters 60, 70, 80 and 90, all of which have paddles. FIG. 2shows how the infeed conveyor 28 directs the crop through an aperture inthe front plate 34 of the screen housing and to a lower portion of thescreen, below all of the beaters.

Some of the hydraulic motors for driving the beaters appear in FIG. 1.For example, as seen in FIG. lthe beater 60 has a shaft 64 that issecured in the end plates 34, 36 and is driven by a hydraulic motor 66.Similarly the shaft 74 of thebeater 70 is driven by a hydraulic motor76. The other beaters are similarly mounted and driven. As mentioned,the pump and connections for the various hydraulic motors of these andother units to be described are not illustrated, it being understoodthat these represent conventional hydraulic practice.

During operation of the thresher the hulled crop (such as peas or beans)falls through the mesh of the screen S and is guided by the shroud 32onto a laterally running belt 105 (FIG. 2). A upwardly running inclinedbelt 110 receives the hulled crop (and some trash) directly as well asfrom the belt 105. The belts 105, 110 are driven by hydraulic motors106, 112 (FIG. 1).

The hulled crop slides back down on the belt 110 and the trash T isdelivered out of the side of the machine from the upper end of the belt110 beneath a windshield 114. The hulled crop P slides down from thebelt 110 onto a longitudinally running belt 120 which is flanked byguide plates 124, 126. In the harvester illustrated the belt 120delivers the crop rearwardly for further disposition by means notcritical to the present invention and not illustrated.

During operation, as the vines work their way from the front orreceiving end of the screen S to the rear end thereof and the vines andtrash trapped within the screen are delivered to a rearward elevatingconveyor 130 (FIG. 1) and hence are dropped back onto the field. YBeater Speed Considerations As previously indicated in the introductoryremarks of this specification, there were heretofore incompatiblerelations between the threshing effects and the damage to the product.For example, data for the graph of FIG. 3 was derived from the prior,conventional single beater large screen (drum) assembly illustrateddiagrammatically at the right of the graph. In the graph, the relationbetween the Equivalent Large Drum Beater Speed in rpm and the Percent ofMechanical Damage to the product is given. For example, with a 5 footscreen diameter and a central beater having a diameter of 36 inches, thepercent mechanical damage to the product varies from about three percentat rpm of the drum to 16 percent at rpm and increases rapidly to about43 percent at 200 rpm.

The graph of FIG. 4 shows the effect of beater-speed on shelling. Usingthe same abscissa of Equivalent Large Drum Beater Speed in rpm as in thegraph of FIG. 3, the ordinate of FIG. 4 gives the Number of Impacts toShell All Peas introduced into the screen. This curve shows that thenumber of impacts needed to shell all peas at low beater speeds isproportionally greater than that required to shell them at high beaterspeeds. However, as indicated in the graph of FIG. 3, high beater speedsincrease the percent of damage to the crop rapidly. 7

As will be seen, in accordance with the present invention the number ofimpacts is increased thereby increasing the shelling rate withoutincreasing the equivalent beater speed to a point wherein the percentmechanical damage is correspondingly increased. Thus with the presentinvention, and as compared to prior machines of the type with which weare concerned, a

greater rate of shelling or threshing can be attained with a heretoforeacceptable percent mechanical damage to the product. Alternatively, themechanical damage to the product can be reduced while still maintaininga threshing rate equal to or greater than that previously obtainable.

Design Sequences There follows a description of various thresherconfigurations which, as previously mentioned, are presented in order tofacilitate better understanding of the development of the invention andthe significance of the arrangements of the beaters therein. Thispresents guides to those skilled in the art for construction ofthreshers that embody the improvements of the present invention. I

FIGS. 5-7 show early stages in the developmentof the invention but eventhese threshers have features of the preferred embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows a thresher wherein (as in all preferred embodiments) thescreen S has no internal ribs but is externally reinforced at 31 aspreviously described. These ribs may be in dual, joined together form,if the screen is sectional, but these details of construction are"unimportant and conventional. The outside diameter of the screen is 60inches (5 feet). A central beater 50, having an outside diameter of 27inches is mounted within the screen. A satellite beater 60 has a mode ofoperation' which characterizes it as a downfeed stripper beater. Belowthat is another satellite beater 70 having a function whichcharacterizes it as a sieving beater." The two satellite beaters in thisform have an outside diameter of 13 inches and their positions withinthe screen S relative toits centerline are in dicated by dimensions andangles given on FIG. 5. The

directions of beater and screen rotation are also shown,

it being noted that the central beater 50 rotates with the screen S,whereas the downfeed stripper beater 60 and the sieving beater 70 bothhave a direction of rotation contrary to that of the screen. The centralbeater 50 has six radial paddles 52 about 4-5 inches in radial dimensionand the satellite heaters 60 and 70 have six radial paddles 62, 72respectively, these having a radial dimension of about 2-2% inches.

FIG. 6 is an'operational diagram of the beater of FIG. also indicatingcertain speeds of revolutions in the screen and of the heaters. The 32rpm speed for the 5 foot screen is'a typical operating speed of theharvester of the present invention and unless otherwise indicated thescreens of the various forms being described are rotated at about thatvelocity. As mentioned, a prior,

conventional type screen and beater or drum assembly is shown to theright of the graph of FIG. 3. In a typical prior assembly of this type,the screen has a diameter of 64 inches and rotates at 18 26 rpm whereasthe single central beater'has a diameter of 36 inches (the diameter atthe periphery of the paddles) and rotates at 180 260 rpm.

The basic trajectory of the crop around the thresher is illustrated atdashed lines in FIG. 6. Of course, the crop has a steady, rearward axialprogression, not illustrated. Beginning near the bottom of the screen, asieving occurs at the screen. The remaining crop is carried on theupfeed side of the screen by friction with the action of centrifugalforce until it reaches a point of departure from the screen which, inthe example shown is at an angle alpha of about 28 degrees horizontal.The mass of vines and peas or beans then follows a curved trajectoryuntil it strikes the large diameter central beater 50, which is rotatingin a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 6. This produces impact No.l" and hence continues the threshing action. A certain percentage of thepeas or beans are hulled at this and successive impacts. Crop thenfollows a generally lateral trajectory across the screen for anothersieving impact with the screen. The crop then ricochets or may bepartially carried down on the downfeed side of the screen to the beater60 which imparts impact No. 2 to the crop. In the form shown beater 60is smaller than beater 50 and can be referred to as a satellite" beater.The crop is now flung back to the central beater 50 where it undergoesimpact No. 3. The central beater next flings thecrop down against thesatellite beater 70 for impact No. 4 and the latter flings it to thesieving position at the bottom of the screen from which this descriptionstarted.

The beater 60 has been characterized as a down-feed stripper beater'inFIG. 5. Its paddles 62 are relatively close to the inside of the screenS and it rotates in a direction opposite to that of a screen rotation.Thus, beater 60 insures that any crop which does not fall from thescreen by gravity against the'beater will be removed therefrom by itspaddles and flung back to central beater as shown in FIG. 6. Beater 70has been termed a sieving heater in FIG. 5 for the reason that withthescreen. In accordance with the principles of the present invention,since the number of impacts has been increased it should be possible toreduce the severity of those impacts and hence reduce mechanical damageto the crop without increasing the duration of the threshing operation.Vector Diagrams v FIG. 7 shows a series of vector diagrams at the various impact points of the construction of FIGS. 5 and 6.

However, in the threshing system of FIG. 7, the

downfeed stripper beater 60 and the impact beater are both rotating'atrpm, and hence have half the rotational speed of the correspondingheaters 60 and vectors are merely presented as a guide forassistingthose skilled in the art to arrive at thresher construc tionsin accordance with the principles of the present invention. For example,at impact No. I wherein the 7 product leaves the screen andstrikes thecentral beater 50, the vector V1 represents the incoming velocity of thecrop, but in'the diagram itsdirection is reversed so that it can beconsidered to represent an equivalent situation wherein the beaterpaddle is moving against the crop in the direction of crop approachinstead of the'crop moving against the paddle. This is 'merely done inorder to produce a less cluttered vector diagram. The small angle y isthe angle of inclination of the incoming trajectory of the crop to aradial line at the point of impact. The solid line vector V2.representsthe speed of the beater paddles at the point of impact. The resultantvector V3 represents what would be the equivalent velocity of the paddlerelative to the crop if the crop were perfectly elastic. The smallvector V4 represents the actual velocity of the paddle relative to thecrop after impact. This vector is drawn in thecorrect direction, thatis, the direction that would result ifv to be of significance. Thisvector represents the relative velocity of the paddle and the crop andhence'is a major factor in determining mechanical damage im-l parted tothe crop-by the paddle. Underthepresent invention, it is desired toholdthis vector to a value which is high enough to provide efficientthreshing but yet low enough to hold down crop damage. As will be seen,another feature of the present invention is that the magnitude of therelative velocity vector V3 should be relatively uniform at all zones ofimpact because if that velocity is substantiallyincreased atany impact,then the chances of damage are increased correspondingly, whereas if thesame relative velocity were made too low in any one impact theeffectiveness of that impact as a shelling operation would becorrespondingly reduced.

The dotted line vector V at impact No. 1 represents the resultantvelocity of the mass leaving the paddle relative to free space and alsoindicates the initial direction of a trajectory towards the screen forsieving in the construction being considered. Without going into detail,the vector diagrams like that at impact No. l are repeated at theimpacts Nos. 2, 3 and 4 at the downfeed stripper beater 60, the centralbeater 50 and the sieving beater 70, to illustrate the advantages ofreducing the peripheral speed of the beaters so that the velocity V3(paddle velocity relative to the mass) is not allowed to substantiallyexceed the corresponding velocity V3 at the central beater 50.

Numerical examples of the vectors for impact No. l at the central beater50 are shown in FIG. 7A. FIGS. 7B

and 7C show comparative vectors at two velocities of the stripper beater60 (impact No. 2). For example, as can be seen from the data of FIG. 7B,the velocity for the important relative velocity V3 in question is 25.95feet per second, when the stripper beater 60 is rotated at 330 rpm. Asindicated in FIG. 7C, when the stripper beater 60 is rotated at only 165rpm, the critical relative velocity V3 becomes 19.70 feet per second andhence compares closely with the corresponding velocity V3 of 16.75 feetper second (FIG. 7A) at the central beater 50. Thus, by analysis asdescribed and illustrated graphically in FIGS. 7A to 7C, all of thevectors of FIG. 7 can be determined.

Referring back to FIG. 7A by way of additional explanation, this is anenlarged view of the vector diagram at impact No. l with the centralbeater 50, giving additional information as to the incoming velocitiesof the mass in the vertical and horizontal directions. These arevelocities Vv and Vh, which are the vertical and horizontal componentsof the incoming velocity V1. It will be noticed in FIG. 7A that theangle a of the velocity of the paddle relative to the mass in theconstruction vector V3 is assumed to be the same as the angle d of thevelocity V4 which is the actual corrected related velocity of the paddlerelative to the mass, but drawn in the proper direction. These anglesare measured from the direction of motion of the paddle, vector V2.Also, referring back to FIGS. 73 and 7C, these vector diagrams at thesatellite beater 60 il- Iustrate velocity determinations in a mannerwhich causes the relative velocity V3 of the paddle and the crop to notonly be at a low enough value to avoid damage but high enough tomaintain threshing (FIG. 7C), and FIG. 7 shows the vector V3 to be ofthe same degree of magnitude all around the thresher, thereby providingoptimum conditions between these two incompatible factors. BEATERCONFIGURATIONS The diagram of FIG. 8 illustrates one of the difficultiesthat can be encountered with the threshing assembly of FIGS. 5-7 justdescribed. It has been found that the point of departure of the cropfrom the screen S and the velocity of the departing crop from the screenwill vary in accordance with variations in velocity of rotations of thescreen and will also be affected by adhesion conditions between the cropand the screen. Thus, to make the threshing arrangement describedoperate consistently would require both the close control of the screenrpm and careful maintenance of conditions within the screen. As aresult, it has been found that in addition to the idealized trajectory aof the crop to the central beater 50, previously shown in FIGS. 5-7 andrepeated in FIG. 8, departure 'trajecto ries such as those indicated atb and These variations in the impact direction at the central beater 50cause deviations from the idealized departure (sieving) trajectory eleaving that beater and hence may not provide, the optimum resultstheoretically obtainable by the beater configuration of FIG. 8.

In the design of FIG. 9, attempts were made to ac-' commodate thevariations in the departure trajectory from the central beater 50. Thiswas to be accom{ plished by introducing a rotating sieving beater a inthe general path e of rebound of the crop from the central beater 50.However, even with this addition, the aforesaid variations in theincoming trajectories b" and c previously described in connection withFIG. 8 resulted in variations in rebound paths from the central beatersuch that the sieving beater 70a was not effective during all portionsof a harvesting operation, becausetrajectories such as f missed thebeater 70a.

Hence the form'of FIG. 9 could not be considered to correct thedifficulties with FIG. 8 previously described. it

FIG. 10 shows an initial stage in what eventually resulted in asuccessful design for accommodating variations in the departuretrajectory leading to the first steeply inclined, that is, it would notrepresent much of I a departure from the vertical. This, in turn,provides room in the upper portion of the screen for a downfeed stripperbeater 60 which strips the product from the screen soon after it passesthe vertical centerline of the screen and relays the product back to thecentral beater 50. As a result, still another sieving operation is 7attained from trajectory f,-' whereupon the crop is again stripped fromthe screen by a downfeed stripper beater 60a that relays it back to thecentral beater a second time for the final sieving near the bottom ofthe screen. 7

However, it was found that the idealized trajectory a of FIG. 10 (justdescribed) was not attainable over j a prolonged period of operation,because the crop would begin to ball up beneath the-upfeed stripperbeater as shown diagrammatically'at g. This resulted in clogging orpartial clogging of the screen and reduction in threshing efficiency.

The construction of FIG. 1 1 represents an unsuccessful attempt tocorrect all the difficulties that took place at the upfeed stripperbeater 80, the principle change being that the upfeed stripper beater 80was raised higher within the screen. Although this construction did, toa large extent, reduce the ball-up conditions, described in connectionwith FIG. 10, the irregular departure trajectory problem first describedin connection with FIG. 8 remained troublesome. For example, instead ofthe idealized trajectory shown at a in FIG.

C OCCUR- in the departure trajectory into the central beater 50, I

the crop came into the central beater on a trajectory c" that was toohorizontal, the result being that the rebound trajectory c from thecentral beater entered the downfeed stripper beater 60 instead ofproviding an effective sieving action along the intended reboundtrajectory Thus, although the design of FIG. 11 reduced the ball-upproblems characteristic of FIG. 10, the other beaters were not fullyutilized.

The construction of FIG. 12 represents another attempt to solve theproblem of feeding the central beater 50 unsuccessfully solved in FIGS.9-11. Here, the central beater 50 has a larger diameter than before andis disposed so that the sieving trajectory from the central beater 50toward the screen misses the beater 60. Although this constructionwas'somevvhat better than that of FIG.- [1 it is still erratic for thesame reasons'and is not considered to be fully satisfactory.v

FIG. 12 also illustrates another-less than desirable construction,namely, the lower sieving beater 70a has its direction of rotationreversed so that it turns with the screen S. The difficulty with thisconstruction is that upon receiving the crop-from the central beater' 50, the lower sieving beater 70a propels the crop almost horizontallytowards a downturning side of the screen. The sieving trajectory of FIG.11- is drawn in FIG. 12 in broken lines and it can be seen that there isI an arc of-travel'in the crop on thescreen indicated at Iz.Thisrepresents increasednon-threshing travel. time .of the crop with screenand hence delays the return of the crop to the upfeed stripper beater80. This increases the over-all threshing time of the installation.

FIG. 13 illustrates aconstruction that successfully solved both thedeparture trajectory variation problems of FIGS. Sand 9 and the-ball-upproblem beneath the upfeed stripper beater 80 of FIG. 10.

In FIG. 13, these problems are solvedby the introd uction of a beaterhaving a new function, namely, a control beater 90. The control beater90 is disposed just below'theupfeed stripper beater but is spaced'farenough away from the inner periphery of the screen S that it does notperform a stripping action. It rotates with the screen and receivesmaterial flung downwardly from the upfeed stripper 80. The controlbeater 90 im'-, mediately relays the material laterally to the Centralbeater 50 alonga trajectory 11" Beaters arranged in accordance with theprinciples of this mode of operation were found to function reliablyover the variable field conditions normally encountered.

In the construction of FIG. IS an upper sieving beater 70a is alsoillustrated which can be considered to correspond to the sieving beater70a discussed in connection with FIG.; 9'. Although most of thetrajectories were like the idealized trajectory 0 shown whereinthe'central beater 50 flung the crop to an upper portion of the screenfor sieving and the crop again rebounded from the screen to the uppersieving beater 70a, the'use of a sieving beater in this upper locationwas not completely successful. The reason for the failu'rein this regardlies in the fact that some of the trajectories of the crop formed fromthe central beater 50 were too flat, as indicated at b, and-instead ofimpinging directlyon the screen for sieving, would enter the sievingbeater 700 thus eliminating the in tended upper sieving action at thescreen. This less than optimum use of the sieving beater 700 does not,however, detract from the effectiveness of the combination of the upfeedstripper beater and the control beater previously explained.

The construction of FIG. 14 illustrates one of-the final developmentsofa thresher embodying the present invention, particularly with whatmight be termed a large reel or screen, that is one having an internaldiameter of about 5 feet. In this constructionan upfeed stripper beater80 and a control beater 90 are disposed in accordance with theprinciples previously discussed with FIG. 13. Instead of providing anupper sieving beater 70a as in FIGS. 9 and 13, a downfeed stripperbeater 60 is disposed near the horizontal centerline of the thresher,and a low sieving beater 70 is also provided generally In accordancewiththe principlesof the designs previously described in connection withFIGS.

8,9andll.

The sieving be'ater70 throws the crop to the screen for sieving on theupfeed side of the screen, and the-advantages of this type of sieving ascompared to the type shown in FIG. '12 in terms of shortening the cyclehave been previously explained. A thresher havingthe function and modeof operation of that shown in FIG. '14, with the beater speeds adjustedso that the relative velocitiesof the beater paddles relative to. thecrop are not too high and are generally the same throughout thethrcshing cycle. represents a significant improvement over priorknowndevices of'this type. The number of impacts is increased and damage tothe crops is decreased,.the result being a higher yield with less damageand greater threshing capacity than any threshers of this typeheretofore known. 7

FIG. 15 illustrates another successful construction. In the beaterdisposition of FIG. 15, the upfeed stripper and control heaters 80, 90both provide threshing impacts and feed the crop to the central beater50 with.

struction of FIG. 14. This makes it possible to move the downfeedstripper beater 60 to a position higher up in the screen (as compared toFIG. 14) for stripping the material from the screen soon after thesieving-operation from trajectory a. As a result of the space thusgained, a second sieving trajectoryj can now. be initiated by thecentral beater before the material is removed from the screen again by asecond downfeed stripper beater 60a. Although the successfulconstruction of FIG. 14 provides six impacts andtwo sieving operationsand that of. FIG. 15 provides seven impacts and three sieving operationsit has been found in practice that both constructions are highlyeffective and

1. A thresher for a legume crop mass comprising a large diameter,generally horizontal rotating screen, a generally centralized beater insaid screen having paddles of substantial radial dimension and rotatingin the direction of screen rotation, a plurality of satellite beatersbetween said centralized beater and the screen, and means for drivingall of said beaters at a substantially higher RPM than that imparted tosaid screen, means for supplying the mass to a lower portion of saidscreen with said screen carrying the mass to an upper ascending portionof the screen without satellite beater interference, means for flingingthe mass from said upper ascending portion of said screen to the near,upwardly ascending side of said generally centralized beater, with thepaddles on the latter flinging the mass directly to an upper descendingportion of the screen for sieving and without satellite beaterinterference, a downfeed stripper satellite beater having paddlesrotating oppositely to said screen for again receiving the mass from thescreen and flinging it back to said generally centralized beater withoutsatellite beater interference, and means for thereafter flinging saidmass back to a lower portion of said screen for sieving, said mass beingthereafter carried up by said screen to its upper ascending portionwithout satellite beater interference.
 2. The thresher of claim 1,wherein the interior of said screen is substantially devoid of beaterribs.
 3. The thresher of claim 2, wherein said means for flinging themass from an upper ascending portion of the screen to said generallycentralized beater comprises an upfeed stripper satellite beater betweenthe screen and said generally centralized beater and having paddlesadjacent the screen that rotate oppositely to said screen.
 4. Thethresher of claim 3, comprising a control satellite beater below saidupfeed stripper beater and having paddles spaced from the screen androtating in the direction of screen rotation for receiving the mass fromsaid upfeed stripper beater and flinging it into said generallycentralized beater.
 5. The thresher of claim 4, wherein the beaterapproach angles and the peripheral velocities of all of said beaters aresuch that the impact velocities of the beater paddles relative to themass are substantially the same.
 6. A thresher for a legume vine masscomprising a large diameter, generally horizontal rotating screen thatis substantially devoid of internal beater ribs, a generally centralizedbeater in said screen having paddles of substantial radial dimension androtating in the direction of screen rotation, and an array of satellitebeaters between said centralized beater and the screen, and means fordriving all of said beaters at a substantially higher RPM than thatimparted to said screen, means for supplying the mass to a lower portionof said screen, said mass being carried up by said screen without beaterinterference, said array of satellite beaters consisting of an upfeedstripper satellite beater between an upper ascending portion of thescreen and said generally centralized beater and having paddles adjacentthe screen and rotating oppositely thereto for removing the ascendingmass from the screen, a control satellite beater below said upfeedstripper beater and having paddles rotating in the direction of screenrotation and spaced from the screen for receiving the mass from saidupfeed stripper beater and flinging it to the near side of saidgenerally centralized beater, said latter beater flinging the massdirectly to an upper descending portion of the screen for sieving, adownfeed stripper satellite beater rotating at a descending portion ofthe screen and turning oppositely to said screen for again removing themass from the screen and flinging it directly back to said generallycentralized beater, and a satellite beater below said downfeed stripperbeater and turning oppositely to the direction of screen rotation forflinging said mass back for ultimate redelivery to a lower portion ofsaid screen for sieving after the mass has again been flung by saidgenerally centralized beater, said mass being thereafter carried up bysaid screen to said upfeed stripper.
 7. The thresher of claim 6, whereinthe beater approach angles and the peripheral velocities of said beatersare such that the impact velocities of all of the beater paddlesrelative to the mass are substantially the same.
 8. The thresher ofclaim 6, wherein said last named satellite beater is a sieving beaterthat receives the mass directly from said generally centralized beaterand flings it directly to the lower portions of the screen.
 9. Thethresher of claim 6, wherein said last named satellite beater is asecond downfeed stripper beater below the screen axis that removes themass from the screen and flings it back directly to said generallycentralized beater, said latter beater flinging the mass directly to alower portion of the screen.
 10. The thresher of claim 9, wherein saiddownfeed stripper beaters have their axes at about the one and the fouro''clock positions of the screen when the latter appears to be rotatingclockwise.
 11. The thresher of claim 6, wherein said centralized beateris formed with about six paddles and the other beaters are formed withabout four paddles.
 12. A thresher for a legume crop mass comprising alarge diameter, generally horizontal rotating screen wherein theinterior of said screen is substantially devoid of ribs, a generallycentralized beater in said screen having paddles and rotating in thedirection of screen rotation, means for feeding the masS to a lowerportion of said screen without beater interference, means for causingthe mass to thereafter move from an upper ascending portion of saidscreen to the near side of said generally centralized beater, (saidlatter means comprising an upfeed stripper beater between the screen andsaid generally centralized beater) and having paddles rotatingoppositely to said screen and a control beater below said upfeedstripper beater and having paddles rotating in the direction of screenrotation for receiving the mass from said upfeed stripper beater andflinging it into said generally centralized beater, means on thecentralized beater for flinging the mass to an upper descending portionof the screen for sieving, a downfeed stripper beater having paddlesrotating oppositely to said screen for again receiving the mass from thescreen and flinging it back to said generally centralized beater, andmeans for thereafter flinging said mass back to a lower portion of saidscreen, said mass being thereafter carried up by said screen to itsupper ascending portion without beater interference, the beater approachangles and the peripheral velocities of said beaters being such that theimpact velocities of the beater paddles relative to the mass aresubstantially the same, said peripheral velocities of the paddlesrelative to the mass being about 15 -30 ft/sec.
 13. The thresher ofclaim 12, wherein said screen has a diameter of about 4 - 5 feet, aperipheral velocity of about 7 - 9 ft/sec., said generally centralizedbeater has a diameter of about 17 - 24 inches and the other beaters havea diameter of about 12 inches.
 14. A thresher for a legume vine masscomprising a large diameter, generally horizontal rotating screen thatis substantially devoid of internal ribs, a generally centralized beaterin said screen and having paddles rotating in the direction of screenrotation, means for feeding the mass to a lower portion of said screen,said mass being carried up by said screen without beater interference,an upfeed stripper beater between an ascending portion of the screen andsaid generally centralized beater and having paddles rotating oppositelyto said screen for removing the mass from the screen, a control beaterbelow said upfeed stripper beater and having paddles rotating in thedirection of screen rotation for receiving the mass from said upfeedstripper beater and flinging it to the near side of said generallycentralized beater, said latter beater flinging the mass to an upperdescending portion of the screen for sieving, a downfeed stripper beaterrotating at a descending portion of the screen and turning oppositely tosaid screen for again removing the mass from the screen and flinging itback to said generally centralized beater, and a sieving beater belowsaid downfeed stripper beater and turning oppositely to the direction ofscreen rotation for receiving the mass from said generally centralizedbeater and flinging said mass back to a lower portion of said screen forsieving, said mass being thereafter carried up by said screen to saidupfeed stripper beater without beater interference, the beater approachangles and the peripheral velocities of said beaters being such that theimpact velocities of the beater paddles relative to the mass aresubstantially the same, said peripheral velocity of beater paddlesrelative to the mass is about 15 - 30 ft/sec.
 15. The thresher of claim14, wherein the diameter of said screen is about 5 feet, its peripheralvelocity is about 7 - 9 ft/sec., said generally centralized beater has adiameter of about 20 inches and turns at about 140 - 280 RPM, the otherbeaters have a diameter of about 12 inches with the stripper beatersturning at about 260 - 520 RPM and the control and sieving beatersturning at about 220 - 480 RPM.
 16. The thresher of claim 14, whereinsaid control beater has its axis at about the 9 o''clock position of thescreen axis when the latter appears to be rotating clockwise.
 17. Thethresher of claim 16, wherein said downfeed stripper beater has its axisat about the 2 o''clock position on the screen.
 18. A thresher for alegume vine mass comprising a large diameter, generally horizontalrotating screen that is substantially devoid of internal ribs, agenerally centralized beater in said screen and rotating in thedirection of screen rotation, means for feeding the mass to a lowerportion of said screen, said mass being carried up by said screenwithout beater interference, an upfeed stripper beater between anascending portion of the screen and said generally centralized beaterand rotating oppositely to said screen for removing the mass from thescreen, a control beater below said upfeed stripper beater and rotatingin the direction of screen rotation for receiving the mass from saidupfeed stripper beater and flinging it to the near side of saidgenerally centralized beater, said latter beater flinging the mass tothe top of the screen for sieving, a first downfeed stripper beaterrotating at an upper descending portion of the screen and turningoppositely to said screen for again removing the mass from the screenand flinging it back to said generally centralized beater, saidgenerally centralized beater thereupon flinging the mass back to thescreen for sieving, and a second downfeed stripper beater below thescreen axis and turning oppositely to the direction of screen rotationfor removing the mass from the screen and returning it to said generallycentralized beater, said latter beater thereupon flinging said mass backto a lower portion of said screen for sieving, said mass beingthereafter carried up by said screen to said upfeed stripper beaterwithout beater interference, the beater approach angles and theperipheral velocities of said beaters are such that the impactvelocities of the beater paddles relative to the mass are substantiallythe same, said peripheral velocities of beater paddles relative to themass are about 15 - 30 ft/sec.
 19. The thresher of claim 18, wherein thediameter of said screen is about 5 feet, its peripheral velocity isabout 7 - 9 ft/sec., said generally centralized beater has a diameter ofabout 24 inches and turns at about 115 - 230 RPM, the other beaters havea diameter of about 12 inches with the stripper beaters turning at about260 - 520 RPM and the control beater turning at about 240 - 480 RPM.